Sunday Social

The Mighty Turdster picked me up at dawn, with Bo, the retired wildfowling dog.

A ten minute drive to the spot with the car  thermometer reading -5 deg C, yes it was a bit nippy

We walked across the frosty frozen fields, starting in a banker swim, expections high as usual.

After twenty minutes the float bobbed and tweaked and TMT wound in to the fish which  mysteriously avoided getting hooked. This happens frequently in this swim, I've a feeling some of the phantom bites are from chub.

We moved on upstream to a lovely wide bend where I found about nine foot of water and best of all it was in the sun. Bloody booooodaful.

An old boy and his wife came over for a chat, they walk the river every single day and have lots of interesting tales to tell. He's a fisherman too, so keeps his eyes peeled and regularly has useful snippets of information.

Huge flocks of geese wheeled overhead, their calls magnified in the windless valley. Lots of wildfowl too, plus an otter and a welcome lack of watercraft. The benefits of being about early.

A cast in the "deep hole" resulted in a proper run and a mint condition pike of eight or nine pounds made a short visit to the bank. Cracking fish.

A ruddy faced old fart with a lovely pike

Three swimmers ( yes, in sub zero temps ) came by and we headed home for a monstrous breakfast, a fitting end to a lovely morning.